In one of the best international hockey games (and easily, the worst way to finish a hockey game) you’ll see, Canada was topped 2-1 in a shootout by Sweden to decide the IIHF Men’s World Championship for 2017. William Nylander was on the winning side and was named tournament MVP, as you probably heard, while Mitch Marner comes out of his first World Championship with a silver medal.

Sweden got on the board first via an unassisted goal from Victor Hedman late in the second.

Marner tied things up with this (pass?) to Ryan O’Reilly under two minutes into the third…

Both Nylander and Marner were stopped in the shootout, with Marner actually being stopped on the game’s last shot. Sweden won 2-0 in the shootout, with Henrik Lundqvist making four saves in as many chances.

Nylander finished the tournament with 7 goals and 7 assists, while Marner picked up 4 goals and 8 assists. Not bad for a couple of guys who could still likely buy children’s tickets on the TTC if they crouched down a little.

Great showing, lads. Luckily, you’ll never be back at this tournament again.

This is what Willy needed to take the next step in his development. When our 2nd best rookie plays on a team full of NHL allstars and outperforms every one of them while winning both gold and tournament MPV, all at age 21, it bodes well for his future. I can’t wait to see him next season.
This performance may give the Leafs management second thoughts about him remaining on Matthews wing although I doubt should he play on Matthews right side next season, it would affect his long term development. In the event of injury to another Maple Leafs centre next season, Nylander can step in. If that were to happens, I doubt Willy will ever relinquish that position again.
Let’s not forget Mitch, everyone’s nerdy little brother who had more points than every Canadian skater besides MacKinnon, and finished 7th in scoring as the youngest player at the tournament.
James Mirtle shared these comments by MacKinnon when asked to comment about his young teammate…
“We’ve grown pretty close since the tournament started. I didn’t know what to expect. He kind of looks like a little nerdy kid, but he’s not at all. He’s got a lot of swag and confidence. He’s unbeleivable. He’s going to be one of the best passers in the game for a long time. I didn’t know how good he was until playing with him here. He’s going to be a great, great playmaker for a long time. It’s a treat. I wish I could take him to Denver with me. I think carry-on would work.”
Sorry Nathan, unless you find your way to the Leafs, you won’t be playing with Marner again anytime soon.

It seems that after every game peoples opinion changed. The odd part of last season is rookies like Brown, Hyman, Zaitsev and Kapanen, who all really had what normally would be considered excellent rookie seasons sort of got lost in the shuffle. Not that people completely missed them. It was more like they were just doing a veterans expected job.